Nightmares
by MistressDarkness
Summary: Hank checks on Erin, making sure that she's okay after being kidnapped and that her past hasn't come back to haunt her. Takes place after the events of 3x11 "Knocked the Family Right Out." One-shot


Author's Note: I recently got into Chicago PD and binged watched all the seasons. I love Erin and Hank's father-daughter relationship. After seeing 3x11 "Knocked the Family Right Out," this idea wouldn't leave me alone. It takes place that night. Enjoy, and please leave a review! Thank you!

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Erin bolted upright in her bed, breathing hard. She gripped her sheets tight, her dream still fresh in her mind. The sound that had originally startled her out of her slumber beat against her front door again. She swung her legs over the side of her bed, tangled up in her sheets. The detective kicked them off, pushing off the mattress. She wiped the sweat from her forehead on her shirt sleeve.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Erin called as she walked to her door, eager to make the incessant knocking stop. She pulled it open, not surprised when Hank entered her apartment, closing the door behind him.

Neither said anything for a moment as Hank just stared at her, his eyes resting on the red mark on her neck left behind from the rapist's knife, confirming the sergeant's fears. "Why didn't anybody tell me?!" he asked angrily, though it was unclear whether the anger was directed at Erin's kidnappers or at himself for not being there.

"It was nothing," she shrugged it off, not wanting to make a big deal out of what happened.

"You being tied up, gagged, and held at knifepoint is not nothing!" he argued, unwilling to mention the fact that she was also technically a victim of attempted rape.

"I'm fine Hank," Erin tried to calm her overprotective father figure. Her team had fussed over her; their concern was not wholly unwelcome. It reminded her that she had a real family now, something she had been lacking until she had met Hank. "The guys already checked me over."

"But they don't know you like I do," he stressed.

Erin crossed her arms. She knew exactly what he was not-so-subtly hinting at. "I don't want to talk about that."

Hank studied her defensive posture, noticing familiar mannerisms he had not seen her display in years. "The nightmares have already started again, haven't they?" he asked softly.

Her grip tightened on her arms, fingernails digging crescent shapes into her skin. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Erin..." the older man warned.

"Hank..." Erin warned back using the same tone as he did, not wanting him to press the issue. The two stared each other down. After a moment of silence, Erin threw her hands up. "Fine," she relents. "I had one. Is that what you want me to say?!"

Hank's face softened. "Kid..."

"No," she stopped him before he could say anything else. "Don't. It's okay. I dealt with them before, I can do it again," she shrugged it off. "How's Eddie?" she changed the subject, turning to go into the living room.

He sighed at her classic avoidance techniques. "Erin," he grabbed her arm before she could run away from her problems.

Neither of them missed her flinching when he touched her. Hank immediately removed his hand. "Damn it," Erin muttered, frustrated with her own body's instinctive reaction. "Sorry."

Hank shook his head, "you have nothing to be sorry about. That was my fault, I should have known."

"Known what? That the girl you took in and raised as your own would act like she's afraid of you?" she exploded, aggravation clear in her voice and demeanor. It was so far from the truth; she literally trusted Hank with her life. She trusted him to save her from the drugs and alcohol when she was a teenager, to have her back on a daily basis at work, and she trusted him again to save her from herself when Nadia had been brutally murdered. She ran her hand through her hair, taking a calming breath. "I don't want you walking on eggshells around me or treating me as if I'm some fragile piece of glass that's going to shatter."

Hank held his hands up in surrender, "I get it. I know you're tough, probably the strongest person I know. But that doesn't mean you have to deal with this alone Erin." He met her eyes, "I was there for you then, and I'm here for you now."

"I just..." Erin bit her lip, looking at the ceiling while she tried to reign in her emotions. "When that guy was on top of me, that _look_ in his eyes. I knew what he was going to do to me, and it all came rushing back." She shook her head. "It was like I was 14 again, and in that moment I was. I was there again in my mind. All I could see was Damien above me, his voice in my ear...his hands on me," she choked on the last part, tears filling her eyes. The vivid images from her recent nightmare flooded her vision. "Hank," she whimpered.

Hank was quick to catch Erin when her knees buckled. "Whoa, whoa, I got you." He held her close. Her white-knuckled fists clenched his shirt tightly, sobbing against his chest. "Shhh," he whispered, brushing her hair back. "It's okay, I've got you. You're safe." His own eyes welled with unshed tears at his adopted daughter's pain. His hand rubbed her back comfortingly. Once her sobs subsided into quiet hiccups, he guided her to the couch, sitting down next to her.

Erin wiped at her eyes, trying to get rid of the evidence that she had been crying even though logically she knew it was far too late for that. She didn't know what to say; she hadn't cried like that since Nadia's death, which was another thought that made her want to break down again. She never liked shedding tears in front of anyone. It was a sign of vulnerability, of weakness.

Her eyes shifted to Hank as he stood up and disappeared into her kitchen. Her eyebrows furrowed, wondering what he was doing. He returned a few minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. Erin couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips. "We're back to this again too?" she smiled, accepting the warm beverage. She fondly remembered the many nights Hank would find her awake in the middle of the night. When she was younger, the nightmares plagued her on nightly. She would wander downstairs, hoping a change of scenery would clear her head. Somehow Hank always seemed to know when a nightmare hit. Within minutes of her sitting down at the table, he would walk into the kitchen and make two cups of coffee. They would sit there and talk, sometimes for minutes, other times for hours. He would stay up with her as long as she needed. He helped her work through her nightmares, to the point where they eventually stopped altogether. But now they were back with a vengeance, her run in with this rapist reminding her of a time from her past she had long wanted to forget.

Hank smiled back, "coffee cures all."

Erin cupped her mug in both hands, staring into it. "I never should have gone to see Tawny alone. And before you say anything, Jay already gave me a lecture." Hank nodded. "I thought she was another victim. I mean, who would gas themselves and fake a _rape_?! I didn't even think to question it."

"Even the best officers wouldn't assume someone had faked their own rape when the rape kit proved otherwise. No one would suspect someone would go so far as to purposefully have sex with the alleged rapist to protect him. While yes, you shouldn't have gone in without backup, none of us thought she posed a danger to us. No one could have seen this coming," he tried to relieve some of the self-blame she was carrying around.

Brown locks bounced back and forth as she shook her head. "I just can't believe I let them get the jump on me. If I had been more aware, they wouldn't have chloroformed me, and I wouldn't be having these fucking nightmares again."

"Erin, listen to me. This is not your fault, it's theirs. Don't let these assholes have control over you, and more importantly don't let that bastard Damien have power over you again. You've worked too hard and come too far for that."

She looked away, eyes downcast. "Easier said than done," she mumbled. "I thought I was over the shit Damien put me through, but here I am, back to square one." She sighed. "All the times he came into my room, all the times he drugged me, all the times he raped me..." her voice dropped off into a whisper. Hank slowly placed a reassuring hand on Erin's thigh, glad when she didn't pull away. "Out of everything, you know what the worst part was?" Her face hardened, "that my mother was in the next room over and was too stoned out of her mind to even realize I needed saving. She _let_ him do this to me. And when I finally gathered up the courage to tell her? She told me to stop being such a pussy and accept responsibility for my own actions, like it was my fault. She did _nothing_ , not a fucking thing," she hissed. "And she made me believe I _deserved_ it. What kind of mother does that?!" She placed her head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees.

"She never deserved you," he said honestly, his other hand resting on her hunched back. "She may be related to you by blood, but she's not family. Family doesn't do that, family looks out for you, protects you, loves you. She did none of those things." He sighed, "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner, save you from all this."

Erin picked her head up, looking into his pain filled eyes. A sad smile crossed her face. "Hank, you're the reason I'm still standing here today. You're my family." She pulled him into a hug before releasing him. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably still be Damien's bitch, or lying dead in a ditch somewhere without anyone even knowing or caring."

He didn't even want to picture either of those scenarios. He was just thankful he had been the one to arrest her all those years ago and he was able to finally get through to her stubborn self. "Well you'll never have to worry about him again." He had personally seen to that after Erin had finally confided in him. His anger and rage had bubbled over. No one else had ever protected Erin, so he took it upon himself. He'd be damned if Damien ever touched her again.

She smirked at him, "I know what you did for me."

Hank pulled back a little, keeping his casual demeanor. "Yeah, the asshole is rotting in jail where he belongs."

Erin shook her head, "no, he's not."

Hank's eyebrows furrowed, "of course he is. You think I'd let him go after what he did to you?!"

"Of course not," she held his gaze. "That's why you beat the shit out of him before killing him."

"What?" Hank asked, taken aback. He had never expected Erin to find out what he had done. "How long have you known?"

"About a month after it happened," she admitted. "When you live on the streets for as long as I had, you hear things. Then when I became an officer, I did my own digging and found out Damien wasn't in the prison system and eventually I came across his death certificate. Apparently he was so disfigured that the coroner had to do a DNA test to figure out it was him?"

Hank wasn't always proud of the things he's done in his line of work, especially in his earlier days before Special Intelligence, but this was one thing he never regretted and never would. "That's what I heard," Hank said cryptically. That scum didn't deserve to be walking this earth. He saw Erin struggle every day when he had taken her in, flinching at every noise, shying away from anyone's touch, always looking over her shoulder. She couldn't move on knowing he was still out there.

"Thank you," Erin whispered.

"Anything for you," he told her earnestly, and she fully believed him. There's no length he wouldn't go to in order to keep her safe. He took a sip from his mug.

"Hey Hank?"

"Hmm?" he asked, swallowing his coffee.

"Could you um," she started, a little embarrassed to be asking, "could you stay? I mean for the night?"

Hank knew how much it took for her to even ask that, to admit she needs anyone, to show any sort of weakness. "Sure, I'll crash out here on the couch." He settled against the back of the couch.

She smiled, glad that he didn't push the subject further. "Thanks," she said simply, not needing to convey to Hank exactly how much she appreciated it, he already knew. She grabbed the remote, turning on the television and officially ending their heart-to-heart.

Erin leaned into Hank's side, seeking safety and comfort. Hank wrapped his arm around her shoulders, giving a slight squeeze. He leaned over, softly kissing the top of her head. "I love you kid, never forget that."

"I love you too."

.


End file.
